Reagan Bends On Defense

White House, Senators Seek Compromise

March 23, 1985|By George de Lama and Dorothy Collin, Chicago Tribune.

WASHINGTON — Faced with overwhelming congressional rejection of his budget, President Reagan agreed Friday to let a ``working group`` of Senate Republicans and White House officials hammer out a compromise that would trim the

The move to negotiate significant differences in the two budget approaches signals a concession by Reagan that he cannot get all his requested cuts in domestic programs or keep all the defense funds that he wants, White House aides said.

The strategy, dubbed ``Rose Garden II`` by one White House insider, effectively is a recycling of a political tactic from 1984, when the administration used the Republican-controlled Senate to forge a compromise budget.

``First you deal with the Republicans because they`re your own, and you`re likely to get more from them,`` said one White House official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified. ``Then you bring in House Republicans before you announce a deal and hope they can push it over in the House.``

By forming a ``working group`` to figure out a deal, Reagan is distancing himself from the political front while his proposals are being modified, thus limiting the fallout he will get from compromising them, the official said.

Reagan agreed to appoint a delegation to the joint working group at a White House lunch with such leading Senate Republicans as Majority Leader

Afterward, Dole said the White House meeting was ``positive and constructive`` and that the working group`s first session should be held next week.

Speakes said Reagan, in agreeing to reassess his Pentagon budget request, does not want Congress to ``take it off defense and put it on domestic``

spending. Instead, the White House will force senators to specify the military programs they want reduced, traditionally a stumbling block in making significant spending cuts.

``If you`re going to cut X billions of dollars out, he would like to see where these cuts would be made and assess himself whether national security wouldn`t be damaged, then make his decision,`` Speakes said. ``That`s the only way the President wants to approach defense spending, a programmatic approach.``

Previously, members of Congress have been reluctant to cut defense spending if it meant eliminating weapons systems produced in their home states or closing military bases in their districts.

Speakes said, however, that the White House`s insistence on weighing specific programs ``isn`t a ploy on our part`` to escape Pentagon funding cuts but reflects Reagan`s concern for national security.

The public announcement of the White House`s willingness to negotiate defense spending, an issue often declared off-limits by Reagan, came after the Republican-controlled Senate Budget Committee voted 18-4 to reject the President`s Pentagon funding request.

Similarly, the committee repudiated Reagan`s entire budget, including its controversial cuts in domestic spending, 17-4. Then, along straight party lines, the panel passed a package freezing most government spending, including the 1986 Social Security adjustments.

Speakes indicated that no areas of the budget, including Social Security, were ruled out as subjects for negotiation by the White House, but that Reagan and the Senate Republican leaders remain adamant against raising taxes.

He quoted Reagan as telling the senators: ``I know we share the same objectives: A meaningful deficit-reduction plan without a tax increase and without damaging our national defense or the solid economic recovery we are now experiencing.``

Speakes said the agreement to negotiate ``indicates a desire to reach an overall accommodation`` and emphasized: ``There is a spirit of `Let`s get the job done.` There is agreement on both sides that there is a need to move promptly.``

One of the main differences between the two budget packages, Reagan`s and the Senate Republicans`, is the sensitive issue of Social Security. Reagan repeatedly has said he would prefer not to freeze Social Security cost-of-living adjustments for 1986 but would consider doing so if faced with overwhelming congressional sentiment for a freeze.

In the Senate Republican plan, the adjustments are frozen at 1985 levels, saving $6 billion in fiscal 1986.

Speakes said Dole suggested the concept of the working group and that Reagan immediately agreed it would be useful to ``begin looking at differences in the budget and deciding what direction we`ll go in before we move to the floor.``

Although Speakes said the White House hasn`t decided which officials will be appointed to the negotiating group, another source said Budget Director David Stockman will head the administration`s team.